Dropping Like Flies

I took a late lunch today and dropped by the Elephant and Castle to watch the Barcelona-Arsenal Champions League tie. I walked out of the restaurant two hours later elated -- it was a game I plan on trying to watch with my daughter again this weekend, just to try and give her a sense of why I love the game.

Although it is a pale vestige of today's spectacle at Emirates, the match got me excited for the seasons of local soccer to come. I finalized an expansion of our season tickets to DC United so that our toddler would have her own seat. I tried to figure out how to increase my support for Real Maryland FC for its inaugural season in the PDL (while, at the same time, getting a little excited about the prospect of seeing Julia Arjona and others at Richard Montgomery). And I am trying to temper my expectations of what seems to be another strong recruiting class for Coach Cirovski -- including three products from the NY Red Bull Academy and U-17 phenom Alex Shinsky.

But that will likely be the extent of our opportunities to follow the sport in the region. Freed of his contract by the collapse of Crystal Palace Baltimore, the gem of the squad, Korey Veeder, has now joined the Columbus Crew for the upcoming MLS season. Howard County's Maryland Red Devils, which had played their inaugural season in the National Premier Soccer League (4th Division) last year were not amongst the teams announced today by the NPSL as populating the league in 2011. The club has announced that:

The TSC MD Red Devils be sitting out for the 2011 season and are planning to be back in 2012.

And so much for my hopes of taking my daughter to see women's professional soccer. Our Game Magazine confirms what everyone who is not an idiot could have foreseen (I, being an idiot, did not) -- Washington Freedom is no more and the team will be playing all of its home games in Boca Raton this season. I hope that Dan Borislow is able to make his vision work down there, because the women's professional game is going to need a lot of help to survive, but it is a shame that the WPS will proceed without a DC-area presence this year.

What does that leave? It is now absolutely imperative to support those teams that are here -- DC United, Real Maryland, and the Northern Virginia Royals. United's signing of Charlie Davies makes the team immediately more interesting. The folks at Real Maryland are doing a great deal to try and make the club relevant to the local soccer scene. Whether the club will be able to draw people and get support remains to be seen, but they are trying. Whether I can convince anyone to trek out with me to Manassas also remains to be seen.

This Week in the Veikkausliiga

The last time we saw Josh Wicks, he was sitting with a friend in the stands at Richard Montgomery High School this past summer watching Mason Trafford and Real Maryland play in a USL2 league fixture.

Two reasons that will not happen again: a week and a half ago, Real Maryland announced that it was self-relegating to the fourth division and will play in the USL Premier Development League in 2011 and, on Wednesday, IFK Mariehamn's addition of Josh Wicks was formally announced to a roster that already included Mr. Trafford.

My initial thoughts about Real Maryland's move to the PDL have evolved from disappointment that we will no longer be able to see third or second division soccer locally, to gratitude that Real Maryland will continue in some form and that we'll have the chance to see local PDL squads by just hopping on the metro up to Rockville.

I know more about IFK Mariehamn than I do about any PDL team, yet the DC metropolitan area is blessed by a relative abundance of PDL sides. Real Maryland will join another local new entrant, the Fredericksburg Hotspur (an hour and a half's drive away), in the mid-Atlantic Division. And both clubs will compete against a well-established side in the Northern Virginia Royals (an hour's drive away in Manassas).

It will take a little more work to get out to see Josh Wicks play. Wicks' signing was announced at the same time as IFK Mariehamn reported that the club had successfully negotiated a two-year extension of Mason Trafford's contract. Negotiations with another former Real Maryland player, Joe Funicello, are reported to be ongoing.

We're thrilled that Wicks has secured a spot at Mariehamn. He remains one of our favorites to have ever donned a DC United shirt. Wicks plays with passion and, when away from the field, showed as much enthusiasm for the game as a fan as he does as a player. He has been unfairly slated for a red card in a US Open Cup Final that he should, admittedly, not have put himself in a position to earn. But, like Louis Crayton before him, there was never any question that Wicks enjoyed playing for United and he never shied away from United's supporters.

The Aland Islands are set to welcome a heck of a player.

And, in the meantime, if anyone knows how we can kit the family out in IFK Mariehamn gear, please drop us a line.